Rural Payments Agency

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Rural Payments Agency spent on  (a) advertising,  (b) public relations,  (c) consultants,  (d) bonuses,  (e) entertainment and  (f) overtime in each of the last five years.

James Paice: The amounts spent by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on advertising, public relations, consultants/contractors, bonuses, entertainment and overtime in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
	In respect of advertising and public relations the RPA Communications Directorate, responsible for dealing with advertising and public relations, was established as a separate entity in November 2006. Unfortunately the data required to provide information for the 2006-07 financial year and earlier years are not held in a form that is easily accessible. As the extraction and collation of these data would require a considerable amount of work and incur an unacceptable cost an answer cannot be provided.
	The figures shown for advertising relate to space paid for in print/online media to raise awareness of existing and new RPA managed schemes, regulatory changes and application deadlines, as well as recruitment activity during the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years.
	The figures shown for public relations encompass external public relations activity to raise awareness of RPA managed schemes, direct costs in media relations and agricultural shows during the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years.
	With effect from 2007-08 RPA does not employ consultants. From then all external resources employed to provide expert opinion, including holding interim position, are recognised and accounted for as contractors.
	Entertainment figures relate to refreshments for meetings.
	The bonus amounts include payments made to senior civil servants in RPA.
	
		
			  Financial year  Advertising (£)  Public relations (£)  Consultants and contractor staff costs (£ million)  Bonuses (£000)  Entertainment (£)  Overtime  (£ million) 
			 2005-06 n/a n/a 29.5 252 81,292.58 3,865,888 
			 2006-07 n/a n/a 27.9 302 104,924.90 3,899,571 
			 2007-08 101,943 150,678 23.4 452 95,021.01 3,312,792 
			 2008-09 111,749 90,830 23.2 559 93,518.21 3,116,143 
			 2009-10 164,903 94,014 25.0 513 49,734.98 2,521,496 
			 n/a = not available